Re: Sonrisa: Hunter R & Cris M
Hunter wasn't starving, he was just hungry. He made money, he just didn't have any to spend. Working poor, they called it. Day before yesterday was ramen and day before that was meat-from-a-can. Health insurance was a funny thing other people had, and the primary drain on Hunter's income was rent and the truck that leaked like a sieve. He drew his elbows over his lap, lithe and canny but small and skinny at the same time, settling the new sweatshirt over his lap and sliding down in his plastic booth. One serious eye edged upward to watch Cris lean back, and Hunter was relieved to find that they were both on the same page about the answer to his question. It was too late to take back the food, and Hunter was letting his chips fall.
He slurped at the too-hot coffee, let it settle, and slurped again.
The mention of paychecks snapped Hunter's eyes up to Cris' face, to evaluate what was there, edging back into wary even after the disarming smile made its appearance. Hunter couldn't afford to lose one paycheck. They would turn the fucking lights off. Yet he said nothing, and stared at Cris face, and concluded that it was probably a joke.
The server came, and like everybody in town they knew each other by sight. Everybody was somebody's younger brother or cousin's girlfriend. Neither was as friendly as Cris, not to each other. Recognition and an absence of warmth was exchanged in a mostly-civil town native's nod, and Hunter got his over large plate. He stowed the coffee and started turning the food into a tower, hashbrowns on bottom, then steak, then eggs, before he topped all with ketchup and hot sauce before dividing it into sawed down squares.
He ate very slowly, chewing carefully. He didn't want to make himself sick, and he was also watching the sheriff and the spoon through his eyelashes. "I can do pretty much whatever." This was true. Nothing too complicated and Hunter could do more than dig graves; he could do basic electrical repair, plastering, roadwork, tile, shit like that. He'd done almost everything, for himself if not for someone else. And with the digging, he was also very strong, even if he hardly knew how to apply it in a fight. "I already told you it was a joke."